Substantial costs can be incurred by aircraft owners and operators due to periods of aircraft unavailability, or down-time. Aircraft down-time is sometimes related to aircraft engine system down-time. The aircraft engine system includes the engine and engine accessories, such as a starter or a generator. To reduce the likelihood and/or frequency of costs and downtime, preventive maintenance programs have been implemented.
Preventive maintenance is periodically performed on aircraft engine accessories based upon average wear rates, lubricant usage rates, and similar averages. Variable burdens on aircraft and their components due to loads, weather, and various other factors inevitably mean that some aircraft parts will wear at differential rates than others. Worn parts can lead to aircraft down-time.
In addition to maintenance, logistical support for aircraft engines, such as production and distribution of spare parts and lubricants, can also impact downtime. Unavailability of spare parts and lubricants can extend down-time.
Some mathematical methods for predicting maintenance and logistical requirements are known in the art. However, these methods require data regarding wear and consumption rates that may be only forensically known, either after expensive operational failures or expensive testing programs.
Some methods of gathering useful data are known, but are conventionally adapted to laboratory and test facility use. Some real-time data gathering methods are also known, such as sensing oil pressure, oil temperature, and shaft speed. However, systems for real-time data collection for real-time data analysis and real-time prediction of maintenance and logistical requirements have eluded the industry.
Accordingly, it is desirable to minimize aircraft accessory downtime. In addition, it is desirable to predict preventive maintenance requirements and logistical requirements to minimize downtime. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.